The Cold War A History in Documents

by Winkler, Allan M.

• ISBN13: 9780195123562
• ISBN10: 0195123565
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-02-15
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The cold war--the bitter standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union--lasted for over 50 years and polarized the world. The conflict had its roots in political and ideological disagreements dating back to the Russian Revolution of 1917--disagreements that intensified in the wake ofWorld War II. Allan M. Winkler excerpts speeches by Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to demonstrate the growing abyss between the two political systems. President Harry S. Truman's announcement of the existence of a Soviet atomic bomb and his speech toCongress launching the Truman Doctrine testify to the gravity of the situation. The cold war was not always "cold"--armed conflicts were narrowly avoided in the Cuban missile crisis and the Bay of Pigs, and war did erupt in Korea and Vietnam. The complex politics of the Vietnam War are representedby voices as divergent as Vietnamese nationalist Ho Chi Minh, President Lyndon B. Johnson, antiwar protesters, and a participant in the My Lai massacre. Cold war paranoia permeated American society. The investigations of writer Ring Lardner, Jr., and government official Alger Hiss by the House UnAmerican Activities Committee, along with speeches by Senator Joe McCarthy, lay bare the political repression at home generated by the perceived communistthreat. Excerpts from Arthur Miller's play The Crucible and the film script of High Noon capture the mood of uncertainty and fear. A picture essay entitled "The Atom Unleashed" collects photographs and cartoons to explore one of the most controversial discoveries of the 20th century. Agreements madein the SALT treaties show the cold war finally coming to an end. In his 1992 State of the Union address, President Bush declared, "By the grace of God, America won the cold war."

Author Biography

Allan M. Winkler is Professor of History and former Chair of the History Department at Miami University, Oxford, OH. His recent books include America: Pathways to the Present and Life under a Cloud: American Anxiety about the Atom (OUP, 1993).

Table of Contents

What is a Document?	6	(8)
How to Read a Document	8	(2)
Introduction	10	(7)
Early Antagonism	17	(28)
Origin of the Atomic Bomb	18	(2)
Tensions and Strategies	20	(6)
The Truman Doctrine	26	(3)
The Marshall Plan	29	(3)
A Soviet Bomb	32	(2)
The China White Paper	34	(2)
NSC-68	36	(3)
War in Korea	39	(6)
The Anticommunist Crusade	45	(26)
Hollywood and HUAC	46	(4)
Chambers vs Hiss	50	(6)
The Rosenbergs on Trial	56	(4)
Senator Joe McCarthy	60	(4)
Cultural Responses	64	(2)
Army vs. McCarthy	66	(5)
To The Brink	71	(26)
Eisenhower's Inaugural Address	72	(1)
Liberation of Captive Peoples	73	(3)
The Domino Theory	76	(4)
Unstable Peace	80	(5)
Kennedy's Inaugural Address	85	(2)
Bay of Pigs	87	(2)
Standing Up to the Soviets	89	(2)
The Cuban Missile Crisis	91	(6)
The Atom Unleashed	97	(10)
Catastrophe in Vietnam	107	(26)
French Colonial Rule	108	(2)
War in Indochina	110	(3)
The Geneva Conference	113	(2)
Nation Building in Vietnam	115	(7)
Horrors of War	122	(3)
Antiwar Movement	125	(3)
Vietnamization	128	(2)
Reunification	130	(3)
An End At Last	133	(13)
The Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1963	133	(3)
SALT Treaties	136	(4)
Reagan's Nuclear Strategy	140	(3)
An End to the Cold War	143	(3)
Timeline	146	(2)
Further Reading	148	(2)
Text Credits	150	(3)
Picture Credits	153	(2)
Index	155